'Don't believe this delta variant nonsense'

[nobspeople]

Does mistrust breed evangelicals or is it the other way around?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/evangelical- ... 35205.html

For discussion:

1) To be a 'real' evangelical, do you have to have an innate mistrust of everyone other than God prior, or does being an evangelical eventually create mistrust in those in power or control?
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"Since the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, Greg Locke, the pastor at a Nashville-area church, has repeatedly called covid a hoax, undermined emergency mandates and refused to comply with guidance from public health officials."
"If you start showing up [with] all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave," Locke, 45, told scores of Global Vision Bible Church parishioners during his sermon on Sunday. His statement was followed by cheers and applause.
2) Does this above statement fall in line with Jesus' teachings?

[1213]

...
2) Does this above statement fall in line with Jesus' teachings?

I agree with Greg Locke. I think Jesus came to set people free from tyranny. So, if one is against Covid tyranny/fascism, I think it is on line with the teachings of Jesus.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luke 4:18-19

But, I don’t know how what it means to be a 'real' evangelical. I think all people should be again fascism and tyranny and understand that power corrupts. It is really sad to see that most world governments seem to be fascists tyrants.

[tam]

Peace to you!

[Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

I don't know how to answer your question regarding evangelicals, but the few people I know who are mistrustful of covid (and shutdowns; and vaccinations, etc) are non-Christian/agnostic/non-believers. This suggests to me that evangelism is not the root (or at least not the only cause) for such distrust.

[Tcg]

Does mistrust breed evangelicals or is it the other way around?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/evangelical- ... 35205.html

For discussion:

1) To be a 'real' evangelical, do you have to have an innate mistrust of everyone other than God prior, or does being an evangelical eventually create mistrust in those in power or control?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Since the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, Greg Locke, the pastor at a Nashville-area church, has repeatedly called covid a hoax, undermined emergency mandates and refused to comply with guidance from public health officials."
"If you start showing up [with] all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave," Locke, 45, told scores of Global Vision Bible Church parishioners during his sermon on Sunday. His statement was followed by cheers and applause.
2) Does this above statement fall in line with Jesus' teachings?

Greg Locke is not alone:

White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort

Stephanie Nana, an evangelical Christian in Edmond, Okla., refused to get a Covid-19 vaccine because she believed it contained “aborted cell tissue.”

Nathan French, who leads a nondenominational ministry in Tacoma, Wash., said he received a divine message that God was the ultimate healer and deliverer: “The vaccine is not the savior.”

Lauri Armstrong, a Bible-believing nutritionist outside of Dallas, said she did not need the vaccine because God designed the body to heal itself, if given the right nutrients. More than that, she said, “It would be God’s will if I am here or if I am not here.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/us/c ... icals.html

There's more:

Target Evangelicals to Boost COVID Vaccine Confidence, Says Advocate

Increasing resources and national efforts to target white evangelicals, the most COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant group in the country, could help end the pandemic sooner, a vaccine advocate said during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Tuesday.

...

Increasing vaccine confidence among a particular subset of Americans could help reverse this trend, pointed out Curtis Chang, a consulting professor at the Duke Divinity School and a senior fellow at Fuller Theological Seminary.

"Reaching every demographic in our country matters, but we are not ending the pandemic unless we convince more white evangelicals to get vaccinated," he said.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectious ... cine/93233

<bolding mine>

Clearly, white evangelicals are creating a problem when it comes to receiving vaccinations to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Belief in life after death and in a supernatural deity can create real problems in the only life we know for sure that we'll ever have and this is but the latest version.


Tcg

[Tcg]

Peace to you!

[Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

I don't know how to answer your question regarding evangelicals, but the few people I know who are mistrustful of covid (and shutdowns; and vaccinations, etc) are non-Christian/agnostic/non-believers. This suggests to me that evangelism is not the root (or at least not the only cause) for such distrust.

Your experience does not line up with known trends, at least not those in the U.S.:

10 facts about Americans and coronavirus vaccines

4 Among religious groups, atheists are the most likely to say they would get a vaccine or already received one dose, while White evangelical Protestants are the least likely. Nine-in-ten atheists said in February that they would definitely or probably get a vaccine or had already received one. Around eight-in-ten agnostics (80%) and Catholics (77%) said the same. The share was considerably smaller among Black Protestants (64%) and especially White evangelical Protestants (54%). Slightly under half of White evangelicals (45%) said they would definitely or probably not get a vaccine to prevent COVID-19.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2 ... -vaccines/

Tcg

[Difflugia]

I think Jesus came to set people free from tyranny. So, if one is against Covid tyranny/fascism, I think it is on line with the teachings of Jesus.

Apropos of nothing, how do you feel about the right to drive drunk? Would Jesus approve of laws against drunk driving, or are they the tools of tyranny?

[Miles]

I agree with Greg Locke. I think Jesus came to set people free from tyranny. So, if one is against Covid tyranny/fascism, I think it is on line with the teachings of Jesus.

Just what is Covid tyranny/fascism?

In light of the fact that that 98% to 99% of the Americans dying today of the coronavirus are unvaccinated* how asleep does one have to be not to recognize the efficacy of the vaccines?

*source


.

[Miles]

Peace to you!

[Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

I don't know how to answer your question regarding evangelicals, but the few people I know who are mistrustful of covid (and shutdowns; and vaccinations, etc) are non-Christian/agnostic/non-believers. This suggests to me that evangelism is not the root (or at least not the only cause) for such distrust.

Might want to reconsider the people you talk to because. . . . .



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[nobspeople]

[Replying to 1213 in post #2]

I think all people should be again fascism and tyranny and understand that power corrupts.

That tends to be true, even among the church. Seems, when people are involved, not even God can thwart the need he assigned to humanity to control others.

[benchwarmer]

This suggests to me that evangelism is not the root (or at least not the only cause) for such distrust.

I agree with this statement. In fact, the likely root cause is lack of education and/or understanding of basic biology and how viruses and vaccines work.

Now, is there a correlation between evangelicals and lack of education? I don't have data on that, but anyone who understands the biology at play will, I assume (and hope), not shut off that part of their brain and just go with whatever their religious (or other) affiliated group leaders have to say about the issue.

In a way, I think we are about to witness evolution in action. i.e. those who do all they can to protect themselves and their contacts will have the best chance of surviving this pandemic and reproducing. Those who decide to take scientific and medical advice from the pulpit during a pandemic will be the first to succumb. Sadly for the rest of us, biology doesn't care who is causing the virus to reproduce and evolve and the variants produced by those who continue to propagate the disease will cause us all grief.

If people don't want to be vaccinated, wear masks, and follow necessary steps to slow down virus transmission, I ok with that IF they remain segregated from the rest of the population. What they don't seem to understand is they are impacting those around them. It's like asking people not to swing baseball bats around them in public. Those who feel it's their right to swing away regardless of who gets hit are the type of people we are dealing with here.